Young Engineers Vie for MESA State Champ Engineering Title

After months of designing, creating and competing, the best middle and high school teams in California will come together to see which group of students will call themselves champs at the MESA Statewide Prosthetic Arm Championship on May 11

May 10, 2013

Four middle school and four high school teams, including a team from Stagg High School, will compete for top bragging rights at the event to be held at University of the Pacific.

The Stagg team is led by award winning educator and MESA advisor Andrew Walter. Stagg students are part of the University of the Pacific MESA center, which serves more than 1,500 elementary, middle and high school students in the Stockton, Lodi and French Camp areas.

Students in the Pacific MESA program, which helps middle and high school students explore future careers in science, engineering and technology fields

These future engineers advanced from preliminary and regional contests and beat out hundreds of other students to participate in the statewide event. The winning high school and middle school teams will represent California in the national championship to be held in Portland, Oregon in June.

The competition requires a team of students to develop a prosthetic device to complete pre-defined tasks. The focus on bioengineering reflects MESA's goal to involve students with the hottest science, engineering and technology areas. The project teaches students to understand design principles, implement problem-solving techniques and think like mechanical engineers.

The project is part of MESA Days, an annual showcase of students' math and science know-how. Through MESA and MESA Day competitions, students can explore future careers in science, engineering and other technical fields.

MESA is an academic preparation program that serves more than 28,000 California pre-college, community college and university students who are educationally disadvantaged.

For more information about the Stagg students, contact Maria Garcia-Sheets at msheets@pacific.edu or 209.946.3057.